Art Happens fundraising campaign launched

This autumn, in the centenary of female suffrage, we want to celebrate the achievements of a group of remarkable women whose pioneering actions have gone unrecognised for nearly 300 years. In order to do this, we need your help.

Following on from the success of our 2015 exhibition The Fallen Woman, we want to highlight the neglected role of women in the Foundling Hospital story. Our exhibition Ladies of Quality & Distinction will shine a light on the 21 forward-thinking Georgian ladies whose help was vital in establishing this important London institution, and saving the lives of thousands of vulnerable babies.

We have tracked down portraits of these brilliant women, whose vision and empathy galvanised founder Thomas Coram’s campaign. They are currently scattered across the UK, but with your help we will be able to replace the portraits of the male governors in the Picture Gallery with the 21 ‘ladies of quality and distinction’ who put their name to Coram’s very first petition.

How can you help?

With the support of the Art Fund, we’ve launched an Art Happens crowdfunding campaign. Between now and midnight on 5 March we need to raise £20,000 to tell this moving story and to enable these women to take their rightful place on the site of the Founding Hospital they helped create. However, if we don’t raise the full target then we get nothing!

Can you help us put our first female champions back in the picture? Any donation you make through the online Art Happens platform will go directly towards this important project and as a thank you for your support you can choose from a range of exclusive rewards. All donations, no matter what the size, make a difference.